This document outlines an agenda for a multicultural marketing class session. It includes discussions on cross-cultural consumer behavior, globalization of consumption, marketing research challenges, and a group assignment comparing word-of-mouth communication across cultures. A quiz on dating customs around the world is also included. The session will cover convergence of marketing environments and legal/ethical issues in cross-cultural research.

1. Multicultural Marketing
3rd Session
Cross culture consumer behavior & Local Consumer and
Globalization of Consumption

2. Today’s Agenda
 Convergence of Marketing Environments
 Marketing Research
 Group Work Class Assignment 2
 Individual Quiz 3 (last quiz)
 Slides for this can be found on Slideshare

3. Reminder
 4 Quizzes = 30% (individual)
 You have already done one quiz
 4 Case Studies = 30% (to be done in groups)
 1 Final Group Project
 Details will be given at the end of the class with a link to
the details and deadline.
 Rules:
 Latecomers to come in class after break
 If you are caught talking to much, you will be sent out of
the class.

4. Class Group Assignment
Please write on an A4 sheet of paper.
Write all group member names clearly.
Write the title as Assignment no. 1
All write down the question which is below
Why can 'word-of-mouth communication' among
people be considered as a fairly robust consumer
behavior concept cross-culturally?

5. Assignment Answer
The core concept : In all cultures, people communicate on a many topics, including
what they buy, their consumption experiences, what they plan to buy. However, some
aspects of word-of-mouth (WOM) may differ cross-culturally, such as:
 The extent to which people speak about consumption experiences; it may be
considered as trivial and a lack of “savoir-vivre” to speak about what one has
bought or used.
 The extent to which people consider it appropriate to speak about particular
attributes of the consumption experience (price, for instance, may be tabooed).
 The extent to which people consider it normal to emit negative WOM messages
(defaming others).
 The extent to which people consider that negative WOM can backfire on
them, especially in small cultural communities where the source of negative WOM
risks being identified by a powerful target.
 The extent to which WOM influences future purchase decisions.

6. Quiz 2 - Individual
You are free to use any resource (Internet, Dictionary, your notes)
No discussions amongst yourselves.
Use an A4 sheet and write your name and the Quiz Number clearly.
‘Dating’ is a very curious concept for many people. In any
case it cannot be fully translated into many languages and
simply means ‘making an appointment’.
Compare what dating means to Americans with what it
means in other cultures, demonstrating how the complex
process of finding a partner for life can be commercialized in
different contexts.
Hint: Choose a country (France, Taiwan) or a society
(Asian, Muslims) and compare it to American Dating sites.

7. Quiz Answer
 There has been a number of articles in the Journal of
Consumer Research about 'dating' and the forms of
consumption, gifts, restaurants, etc. which are associated
with dating in the United States.
 Some phrases are typically associated with dating such
as 'boy friend' or 'girl friend', often used untranslated in
other languages.
 The purpose of this comparison is to understand how
cultural differences in this area (what a date
means, acceptance of non-married couples, of people
kissing each other in the street, etc.) are associated with
consumption rituals such as gift-giving, birthday
presents, first-buy-ever, etc. (his first car, her first
ring, etc.).

8. Convergence of Marketing Environments
 Local Marketing Environments
 Marketing: Borrowed Concepts and Practices
 Regional Convergence
 Limitations of Convergence

9. Local Marketing Environments
 Local knowledge is important because it is
operational
 Understanding local marketing environments:
 Self-criticism is a necessary perspective because we
understand our environment from our own perspective.
 There is always a reference point that force us to
make a judgment
 High-context international marketing is infused with
local knowledge.

10. Local Marketing Environments

11. Local Marketing Environment
 Economic Environment
 prices are adapted by global marketers so that they fit
with local purchasing power
 Income and wealth inequalities are closely related to
power distance
 Political Environment
 Political aspects of the local environment are generally
associated with political risk (nationalization, coups)
 Joint Ventures, Licensing, Contribute to country’s
economy
 Legal Environment
 No real universal law.
 Communist Law, civil code, shariah, socialist law.

12. Marketing: Borrowed Concepts
 Marketing concepts and practices were initially developed in
the USA and have continued to spread because of the success
of US-based companies in global markets.
 Marketing vocabulary is now used worldwide:
 ‘mailing’, ‘media planning’ and ‘merchandising’ are all familiar
words.
 In French companies one often finds a directeur du marketing
(vice president, marketing) and a directeur commercial (vice
president, sales).
 The French directeur commercial is actually responsible for a large
part of what Americans call ‘marketing’ as a functional area.
 In the United States a vice president, marketing, would more
commonly deal with marketing strategy as well as sales and
advertising.

13. Regional Convergence
 Regional integration is now under way, based mostly on trade
agreements.
 The basic assumptions, interaction models and attitudes are to
be taken into account in negotiations between nation-states.
 Therefore, convergence is basically economic (as in the case of
the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA), more
rarely political (as in the case of the EU, and this with obvious
pains).
 Cultural convergence is a more difficult process: it certainly
happens but over a very long period and with people largely
unaware of it.
 Groups of countries can be identified for the purpose of
marketing on 2 elements:
 similarities (which unite them against the rest of the world)
 differences (which account for the intraregional diversity).

14. Regional Convergence

15. Limitation of Convergence
 While economic systems are converging towards a
market economy, the degree of poverty of a
significant group of developing countries has been
increasing over the years.
 Buying and consumption patterns in affluent counties
appear to have in fact diverged as much as
converged.
 After 9/11, tourism, hotel, airline, and education
industry in countries like the US has faced a lot of
decline.

16. Cross Cultural Market Research
 The Market Research Procedure
 Types of Marketing Research
 International Challenges
 Legal and Ethical Issues

17. The Marketing Research Procedure
1. Define the research problem (not symptom) and
establish research objectives:
 Broad enough?
 Influence of local culture?
2. Determine the sources of information needed to
answer the research objectives
 Availability, reliability, cost, etc.
3. Gather the relevant data from secondary and/or
primary sources
4. Analyse, interpret, and present the results

18. Marketing Research
Problem Problem-solving
Identification Research
Research
•Market Potential •Segmentation
•Market Share •Product
•Market characteristics •Pricing
•Image •Promotion
•Sales •Distribution
•Forecasting
•Business Trends

19. Types of Marketing Research
 Qualitative
 An exploration of what people do or say
 Observation
 Depth interviews
 Focus groups
 Quantitative
 Structured questions where the response options have
been predetermined
 Survey research
 Experiments
 Observation

20. International Challenges
 Lack & inaccuracy of secondary data
 Time & cost of primary data
 Co-ordination across countries
 Environmental differences leading to complex
designs
 Comparability across countries

21. General Problems in Secondary Data
 Availability of Data
 entire country, regions?
 Reliability of Data
 optimistic, understated?
 quality in developing markets
 Comparability of Data
 categories, currencies, frequency, base years, sampling unit
 Who collected the data?
 For what purpose?
 Any reason for purposely misrepresenting the facts?
 How were data collected?
 Methodology
 Are the data internally consistent and logical in light of known
data sources or market factors?

22. General Problems with Primary Data
 Who should respond?
 Ability to communicate opinions?
 Willingness?
 truthful, taboos, taxes
 Method suitability?
 mail, phone, personal interviews, internet
 Sample adequacy?
 Lists and techniques
 Language/comprehension
 translation
 meanings
 attitudes of interviewers and respondents
 willingness to respond
 illiteracy & education level

23. Cross Culture Equivalence
 Conceptual Equivalence: Similar meaning
 equivalently weighted or articulated
 Self image: beauty, youth, friendliness, etc. Perceived risk:
social, physical, financial, etc.
 Functional Equivalence: Similar activities, different functions?
 preparing a meal? bicycle? watch?
 Examine the social setting where the product is consumed
 Translation Equivalence
 Back Translation, and Parallel Translation
 E.g. warm/hot vs. Chaud; hair vs. Cheveux and poil
 Measure Equivalence
 Perceptual: Colors, smells
 Metric: scale, meaning
 Calibration: weight, distance
 Data Collection Equivalence
 Willingness to co-operate
 Response bias:
 Lessen embarassment

24. Legal and Ethical Issues
 Regulatory issues
 Regulations and guidelines to prevent unfair and deceptive acts
 Industry standards to guide research activities
 Privacy issues
 Included in both regulatory and ethical issues
 Violating promises of anonymity
 Identifying unsuspecting respondents
 Ethical issues
 Honesty throughout the research process
 Rights of others (e.g. using competitor information)